Customer Reviews

ETON G5 AM/FM/Shortwave Portable Radio with SSB (Single Side Band)

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

I have had this radio for about a week now..

the instruction booklet is a little skimpy and setup can be confusing, however this is a fine radio.

FM selectivity is good, and quality through earphones is excellent, on SW the SSB feature is necessary to listen to HAM radio..its just a shame its not synchronous sideband detection..you must fine tune to select USB or LSB...Other than that the sensitivity is good, my only conclusion is that its not as good as my Satellit 800, but its also 1/20 the size and < 1/2 price.

There is a nifty "time zone" feature that allows the traveller to easily select which time zone he is in..the glaring omission however is that while GMT can be set (=UTC or world time and the basis for SW radio) all time zones are simply linked directly to GMT..or put it another way, there is zero capability to deal with any summer time...you need to muck about faking a time zone for BST, EDT or whatever.. this is a silly error.

The feel of the slightly rubberized surface is excellent, as is the display lighting and three methods of tune .. a rotary know (thankfully), seek, and direct frequency input.
If you are looking for a decent portable radio with SW, packed with the necessary features for enjoyable listening and without unnecessary frills, i cannot think of a better buy.

Extremely nice, easily configured potable radio. AM broadcast band and FM performance is exceptionally good. SSB (Single Side Band) although BFO tuned, is very good. Shortwave performance is on par with radios in the $300.00 price class. Display back lighting is great and the display is easily read. Although a bit more expensive than the Sony ICF-SW7600GR, and does not offer synchronous detection, it is worth the price.

Note: Some offerings includ ear buds, travel case and roll-up antenna - some do not. The manual indicates these are are included although that is not always the case.

The Grundig G5 is a fine performing world band radio. It just isn't worth the price IMO. I also own the Kaito KA1102, and Sony ICF-SW7600GR. The Kaito costs 1/2 the price and performs equally as well. IMO, the KA1102 is the best deal in world band receivers. It's not quite as easy to use as the G5, and the sound isn't quite as good, but it is a much better value. The Sony costs slightly less than the Grundig, but performs equally as well on AM, and beats the Grundig on SSB. Mainly due to its synchronous detection circuitry. The one thing I like about the Grundig over the Sony is the fact you can charge the batteries in the radio. You can also do this with the Kaito. You can't do that with the Sony, and it also doesn't include the AC adapter. All in all, you can go wrong with any of these 3 radios. But I can't see paying twice as much for it over the Kaito, and the Sony is a slightly better performing radio, that costs slightly less.

04/2010 Update:
Wow. Since my review from 2008, the price of this radio has dropped from $140, to under $90. At this price, it is a great bargain. It's easily a 5 star radio at it's current price.

This radio is good it has the continous 150 to 29999 kHz with no boundries. The AM and FM reception is superb, but LW and SW bands are medrocre. The LW band is fair to poor you would need a tunable loop antenna that covers 150 kHz to 520 kHz to pull in distant LW stations. The AM band is real good and the selectivity and sensitvity is good and well performing. The shortwave bands are fair to poor unless you use a external wire antenna with the G5. I could not pick weak signals, I hope I can get mine fixed. Please be careful not to use the radio in areas with high static electricity. When used with a Active Antenna or long wire antenna use an attenuator or preselector with this radio. There is a good line out jack on the right side so you can connect your radio to a stereo system or minidisc recorder to record your favorite shortwave radio programs. The radio requires 4 AA batteries, and sometimes it needs reset, the good thing is that the "reset" feature does not erase your preset memories even when the batteries are taken out. The SSB reception is very good if the reception was better.

This radio is a great shortwave portable when used with low gain active antennas and not so
big wire antennas. This radio is recommended for FM and AM DXing as well as shortwave radio
broadcast DXing.

This radio requires a special AC adapter that is 8 volts, and does not require more or less than that.

This is my first shortwave radio. I'm very pleased with it. Have had it about a month and use it daily for about an hour. Original set of Duracell alkaline batteries are still good. Good reception on all the local AM and FM stations. I am 20 to 40 miles away from the transmitters. I pick up many shortwave stations from inside my home using just the telescopic antenna. Routinely listen to Radio Romania, Radio Havana, China Radio Intl. Have also received broadcasts from Vietnam, Egypt and Africa. Get a lot a spanish speaking stations but I do not speak the language. I have no other shortwave experience but I would not hesitate to purchhase this radio again or to recommend it. I use it exclusively with headphones so I can't comment on the speakers. Clock and time zone were easily set. The page memory system is very easy to use once you try it a couple of times.

I needed a compact portable LW/AM/SW/FM radio that was SSB capable and have compared several receivers including the SONY ICF-SW7600GR, the Grundig G6 Aviator, the Sangean ATS-909, the Kaito KA1102 and KA1103, etc. and now the Grundig G5. I am still not done with all my evaluations, but I think that the Grundig G5 (which was constructed specifically to address the numerous poor ergonomic issues of the KA1103) is a good, but way too expensive, until very recently, since the new Grundig G3 was recently introduced, and yet is still a very sensitive receiver! I am extremely impressed right out of the box with how well it performs even for quite weak signals and with the antenna on SW not even extended very much. With recent prices as low as $84.95 on Amazon, it is quite a bargain however for all you radio lovers (compared to the original Grudndig asking price of $150.00)!

PROS:

1) It comes with a slip case, a set of earbuds, 4 rechargeable NiMH batteries, an AC/DC adaptor and a very readable manual.

2) Excellent signal reception on ALL bands (LW/AM/SW/FM) with all standard frequencies continuously available. It really performs well. Both the sensitivity (ability to detect very weak signals) and the selectivity (ability to separate competing signals on adjacent frequencies) are quite good. Part of the latter capability is due to a very well designed narrow/wide band filter setting which the Kaito KA1101, KA1102 and KA1103 all had previously (due to the Degen-Kaito-Tecsun engineering design in China). The LW band is not complete from 150 KHz onward and stops at 293 KHz instead of at 520 KHz however (the start of the standard N. America am band) and is not as sensitive as the shortwave band however.

3) It has a tone switch (Music/news) available for FM only as well as a two position Local/DX switch (RF gain attenuator), an earphone jack, a charger/adaptor jack, etc.

4) It has a lock push button and also has a good backlight screen.

5) Numerous tuning methods are available including a fine tuning knob that extends slightly outside the main body of the radio.

6) Very high quality and very readable display with numerous icons for battery life and a signal strength meter that works extremely well, It also has Mono/stereo settings, sleep settings, an external antenna jack, a DC input jack, a SSB (single sideband) key on the front of the unit and a separate BFO (beat frequency oscillator) fine tuning knob on the side of the radio), just as on the KA1103etc.

7) It has long battery life using 4 ordinary or rechargeable AA batteries

8) There are 700 memory preset locations that are very easy to set and scan (coimpared with a graAnd total of 268 on the KA1103).

9) It has a nice and easy to use reset button.

10) It has a very nice size speaker with excellent sound quality and little distortion. It is much better than the speaker on the Sony premier model in my opinion.

11) It has a very good quality and very easy to maneuver FM/SW antenna that also swivels very nicely and that also is very easy to quickly extend.

12) It recharges the batteries automatically internal to the radio just like the KA1102, the Kaito KA1103, the Grundig G6, etc.

13) Overall this is a good quality radio, but I still personally don't like it as well as the KA1103 (which continues to sell well despite two major attempts by Grundig, namely the G5 and the G3, to improve upon its original "flawed ergonomics" design). This is partly because, in agreement with another reviewer, I also think that although the reception through the earbuds is just fine, I feel that the sound quality through the speaker is just too "muddy".

CONS:

1) Band scanning is not continuous over all frequencies/wavelengths, but can only be done with the autosearch keys one band at a time with a key push needed to switch to the next band. With the tuning knob of course the band search is fully continuous (as recently pointed out to me by Martesque in a Comment).

2) It generates internal Rf noises, as also noted above, that were not present on the KA1103!

I recently purchased the Grundig G5 [new for $120.00]. - I have had some experience with smaller Grundig Pocket Radios and was optimistic !!!

When I saw my new G5 I was impressed with its "look & feel" ,,, very nice!!! But then I read the myriad of buttons !!! And then I read the Manual !!! I WAS READY TO THROW THE "Grundig G5" INTO THE GARBAGE CAN !!! -- The Button labeling unintelligible ,,,, the Manual unfocused !!! :-(

At first, with or without the Manual, I could not even turn on the AM radio ,,, But wait ,,, WAIT !!! Don't THROW it AWAY yet !!! TRY USING IT FIRST !!! ,,, after a few minutes [without the manual] I was pleasantly SURPRISED !!!

THE G5 FIT INTO MY ELECTRONIC PERSONALITY SNUGLY & COMFORTABLY!!!! iluvit !!! :-) ,,, The Grundig G5 is GREAT !!! PERFECT !!! Most EXCELLENT !!!

Some reasons WHY I LOVE "USING" THE G5:
1- The "look" is very handsome & legible, the "feel" is exotic & comfy !!!
2- Careful extending the Whip Antenna indoors ,,, longest I've ever seen ,,, ha,ha

3- Display is readable WITHOUT the LCD backlight on.
4- Touch any button and LCD backlight comes ON, even when powered OFF.
5- "News / Music" Slider switch is cutting-edge [well labeled and functional].

6- The "selectivity & sensitivity" is the BEST amongst the rest !!!
7- Type any Band Frequency i.e. 1060, press AM ,,, and you have AM-1060.
8- Type any Band Frequency i.e. 915, press FM ,,, and you have FM-91.5.
9- Press F1 - F7 and you go directly to the respective SW Band.
10- Press SSB for easy access and high quality.

11- Press Scan UP any band, the G5 stops for 5 seconds on all sensitive signals.
12- Press Scan DOWN any band, G5 stops for 5 seconds on all sensitive signals.
[Press any button to stop the Auto Search.]

13- Volume Up & Down buttons ,,, fantastic, "+ / -".
14- Distant / Local Slider actually works.
15- External Antenna and LINE OUT are nice touches.
16- "Trickle-Charge" FUNCTION [easily accessible] for Ni-Cd and Li-Ion batteries.

17- Power Adapter ,,, and a gorgeous Carrying Case included.
18- Powered by FOUR AA batteries, standard Alkaline or Rechargeable [in unit].

Epilog:
The Grundig G5 is a very "peculiar" radio both in appearance [strange buttons but beautiful look & feel] and function [must experience to appreciate]. --- BUT ,,, I LOVE IT !!! The BEST pocket-radio I've ever "experienced" !!!

I was living in the middle of the Navajo Nation, Arizona and needed a good portable FM radio so I could listen to KNAU Flagstaff. I went to The Shack in Gallup and purchased the Buz Aldrin G6 and sped home and unfortunately the reception was so poor I couldn't get FM in my place. After emailing Eton a customer service person suggested taking it back and getting the G5 which I did. BINGO! It worked like a charm with crystal clear FM reception where the G6 had NONE. He indicated the internal FM antenna in the G5 was more sophisticated with much longer range. Who would have thunk!

This is a peach of a product. I also have the larger G350 which I forgot to bring. The sound from the G5 is as good as from the G350 in a much smaller design.

Buy this if you want damn good FM reception in a compact package.

For a very small shortwave it sure has great sound! The reception is great within a large, concrete apartment building. Full of many useful features. The controls are well laid out and easy to figure out. The manual is straightforward and easy to understand.

I have decided to raise my previous rating to 5 stars. I bought this radio first and still think it is an all-round great radio in its price class, lacking only synchronous sideband (which the Sony 7600GR has and supposedly does very well for roughly the same price when new). The G5 has no major problems and certainly has one of the best-designed user interfaces I have seen on a shortwave radio.

Later I bought a Degen DE1103 (basically the same as a Kaito KA1103). The Degen exhibits some of the worst user interface decisions ever made, but it seems to have fewer internally-generated bogus shortwave signals than the G5. I noticed weird spread-spectrum hash 10-20KHz wide in multiple places in the 160M band on the G5, and to my surprise that does not occur in the DE1103 even though these radios supposedly have closely-related designs. Other people recommend an external antenna on the G5, which might overpower the internal signals enough that they don't matter, but I have not tried that. Most complex radios have birdies of some kind at some point on the dial, so in retrospect I should not call this a significant indictment of the G5.

It seems to me that if you can stand the user interface AND there is a significant cost difference, the Degen/Kaito is the better buy. Otherwise, go with the G5.